Their second trip of the year saw Fight Club: Pro return to a packed Bush Hall in London for Capital Cock Knocker 2. No, you’ve not missed their first show… at least, under the FCP branding!
Trent Seven – fresh off a flight back from the States – is your ring announcer for the day, and the set-up is rather different lay-out to what we had for the Dream Tag Team Invitational finals, with a more conventional entry-way in the corner.
Eddie Dennis vs. Lee Hunter vs. Millie McKenzie vs. Charli Evans vs. Jordan Devlin vs. Martina vs. Jack Sexsmith vs. Pete Dunne
It’s a Capital Cock Knocker, Multi-House, Dragon Wheel Super Multi-Man Challenge Match to get us going! Eddie and Lee swap jackets for the hell of it, and I’m surprised they fit!
It was an insane, balls-to-the-wall eight-way – the kind of match that you want to open up in a (fairly) new town for you. It’s been a long long time since we’ve heard “Can You Feel My Heart” for Peter anywhere it seems… something that left Martina starstruck!
Something else that struck Martina… was Pete’s forearm, as the match instantly spilled out of the ring, becoming one of those “where the hell do I look?” matches. When things settled into the ring, it became “two in, everyone else out” for a while, with Millie, Charli and Martina mixing it up with the lads as well as each other. A Bronco Buster to Charli just left Shay watching on forlornly, almost out of jealousy, before Martina and Sexsmith got out their Cockos and Durexos for a duel!
Dunne broke that up and bit at the condoms, before almost retching. Must have been a bad flavour…
Our first dive comes in the form of a caught plancha from Lee, who gets dumped onto the apron from Eddie, before Charli sent herself flying off the middle rope to the outside. Martina blows up trying a dive… but her alcoholic spinach gets Li’l Miss Popeye going in the end before Sexsmith’s flip dive took everyone down! Shay teases a dive, but Eddie rushes in to forearm him. What the hell? Instead, referee Shay avoids being used a projectile before stunning Eddie… which earned him a press slam onto the waiting pile outside. Good job these are no DQs!
Dunne throws a shoe at Jack Sexsmith as he went to flatten Devlin with the Big Double Stompy Move to spark off a Parade of Moves, before Peter went on a low blow spree. Ah, he was just practising for Callum the next day. Eventually a low blow to Martina angers Shay, who looked to have calmed things down, only to get kicked as well. That, of course, led to Dunne’s comeuppance as Jack, Martina and Shay celebrated… with the Hunter water spit.
Which just angered Dunne more, and so we got a three-way Pedigree!
A Pedigree Destroyer follows from Millie, who came agonisingly close to a surprise win, before Eddie showed that he was immune to sprays of beer. Sadly, Martina wasn’t immune to a forearm either, nor was Jordan Devlin, who took one and a Bitter End to bring this mayhem to an end. Entertaining stuff, and something that played out fairly well on VOD as well as live. ***½
Omari vs. Travis Banks
A bit of an odd choice here, but Travis Banks is having to fight back to title contention in Fight Club Pro, whilst Omari’s slowly rising through the ranks.
We start with Banks taking down Omari with ease, before things descended into a chop battle, as Omari looked to edge ahead with a big boot and a missile dropkick for an early near-fall. Banks replies by absolutely leathering Omari with kicks to the front and back for a two-count, before landing a superkick after stuffing an O’Connor roll.
Still, Omari fought back, scoring a two-count from a Fisherman’s suplex, before the Kiwi Buzzsaw fired into life with more kicks and a dive, only for Omari to get one of his own in. The back and forth continued as Bamos hit a back cracker out of the corner, then a springboard double stomp, before Omari went all Kenny Omega with a Finlay roll and moonsault combo.
The pair exchange right hands, then more kicks, before Banks dumped Omari on his head with a lariat. A Kiwi Crusher follows for a near-fall, as Omari avoids a Slice of Heaven with a superkick and a powerbomb as the pair continued to edge towards the finishing line… only for Banks to avoid the O-Zone and hit the Slice of Heaven for another near-fall. From the kick-out, he flips Omari into the Lion’s Clutch, and there’s our submission! Not exactly by-the-numbers, but a well-fought contest from Omari as Banks collected another W. ***¼
Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) vs. Callous Hearts (Jimmy Havoc & Clint Margera)
The second part of this weekend’s Callous Hearts challenge was answered – against their will, judging from Kyle Fletcher’s face – by the Aussie pairing. Ah, it’s nice to hear AFI again at the London graps…
Unlike the multi-way tag match the prior night, this wasn’t a weapons-and-mayhem scramble… but it’s not too far off! The Aussies took the fight to their blood-and-guts loving opponents, with Havoc getting thrown into Clint in the corner for a makeshift cannonball early. Unfortunately, a double missile dropkick gets Havoc back in it, as do tandem dives, as the Aussies find themselves in deep trouble.
A massive chop from Havoc, along with forearms rock Kyle, as does a poke to the eye as Margera decides to fly in with a double stomp to Dunkzilla. Davis replies with a powerbomb onto the apron as we hear something going on between Havoc and Fletcher… that ends when Havoc takes an apron powerbomb, before Margera decks Fletcher just out of camera shot.
Davis forearms his way out of a Rainmaker as we have a superkick soiree amongst the four men instead, before a Michinoku driver from Fletcher to Margera eventually earns him a pumphandle drop from Havoc instead. The Aussies reply with a pop-up cutter to Margera, before avoiding a double Acid Rainmaker and delivering a Fidget Spinner to Havoc instead for a two-count.
Havoc gets pulled up for that impressive piledriver from Davis, but a brainbuster’s not enough for Fletcher to win it… and the Callous Hearts work back into it with a death valley driver/double stomp combo to begin a flurry, ending with an Acid Rainmaker to wipe out Fletcher for the win. This was brief, but fun – thank God they didn’t try and spray blood around the venue, eh? ***½
CZW World Heavyweight Championship: Shane Strickland (c) vs. Mark Haskins
Originally a non-title affair – for any of Strickland’s three belts (CZW, WrestleCircus or DEFY) – Haskins made the challenge… and Shane bit. So it’s the “Cee Zed Double-you” title (yes, we’re in Britain, that’s how it’s said here) that the “championship hunter” wants to grab…
It’s a rather testy start, as Strickland and Haskins keep things grounded, finding ways to avoid diving into the rather not-crashproof chairs. Haskins capitalises on a missed charge into the corner and slingshots back in with a dropkick as he tried to keep Strickland out of his element, forcing him to fight out of a chinlock before cutting off any speedy offence with a back elbow.
A rather hushed silence provided a backdrop as Strickland took a series of kicks, before finally getting the upper hand with a roll-up into an RKO, spiking Haskins on his head for a two-count. Shane keeps up with a massive kick, taking Haskins flying to the floor ahead of a running kick off the apron. Back inside, Haskins gets his knees up to block a 450, then turns it into an inside cradle for a near-fall before being forced to eat some chops.
Strickland’s 619 by the corner could have led to another roll-up RKO, but Haskins grabs it and turns it into a crossface, then a Rings of Saturn until Strickland got his foot to the rope. We finally get that dive when Haskins knocks Strickland with a tope, but Shane gets right back in it with a running suplex for a near-fall. They head up top – really close to one of Bush Hall’s chandeliers – so they decide to try for a superplex into the crowd. How about no?
Instead, Haskins knocks Strickland down to the floor, then looked for a moonsault, only to be kicked into a Tree of Woe as Strickland drilled his challenger with a double stomp. Another stomp follows for a two-count, as the champion decides to get a little more vicious, stomping away on Haskins’ head until he crawled onto the apron.
An apron piledriver’s teased, but instead Haskins slips and and dumps Strickland with an overhead exploder that leads to concerned Trent Seven face. Back inside, a death valley driver gets a near-fall, so Haskins does it again, also for a two-count, before he measures up for some more kicks, and finally, some receipts in the form of head stomps! Strickland retaliates with an attempted headscissors, but Haskins countered into the bridging armbar, before the pair clatter each other with duelling superkicks.
The end quickly comes when Haskins tries his roll-up Sharpshooter, but that’s caught, and turned into a pumphandle driver as Strickland retains! A hell of a match that drew a standing ovation, despite the “foreign title defended overseas” thing. Hey, #CCK won the CZW tag titles on a Lucha Forever show, so anything can happen! ****¼
Speaking of…
Gentleman’s Club (Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy) vs. #CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos)
If you came in here expecting all-out action, you’re in the wrong place! Lykos came out with his arm in a sling, playing off his recent/ongoing shoulder problems, as he and Brookes had a tricky time establishing that they’re to be booed.
Lykos took offence to “one paw” chants, as well as Chuck Taylor’s attempt to do a test of strength with the bad hand. It was a ruse… only for Lykos to get instantly caught as Taylor threatened to tear off the arm. The wolf was particularly mouthy here too, but you sensed that #CCK would have a better time of it against Orange Cassidy: a guy whose style is best described as “whatever”.
It’s a style that’s hard to lock up with, and leads to some bemusement as Orange subverted every basic of wrestling. Headlocks, rope-running, drop downs… the lot! Cassidy laid there like a dying ant before he rolled to the outside to avoid Brookes… who finally had enough and rolled him back in, before chopping Cassidy so hard from a mock Superman punch that he tried to walk away.
Cassidy returned with a mean chop, a spot of rope walking… before giving everyone a thumbs up… and Brookes a thumbs-up headscissors! The pace quickens when Lykos gets back in, before #CCK combined to use Shay as a makeshift wolf for the elevated lungblower. A wet willie follows, but Cassidy doesn’t seem to mind, with things being so nonchalant that Taylor was able to take a seat – despite his partner taking a beating.
Lykos accidentally nails Brookes with a dropkick as the wolf was in a bad run of form, which saw a brainbuster turned into David Starr’s Blackheart Buster as Cassidy got the hot tag to Taylor… who made light work of #CCK, suplexing everyone into each other in the corner! Cassidy keeps up the pressure with a corkscrew splash to #CCK outside, before a Falcon Arrow and a lackadasical splash off the top gets a two-count as started to get back into it.
An Ink Bomb almost gets the win as Taylor hits back with Eat Defeat to Lykos. We get a spray-off as orange juice and water came into play, with Lykos accidentally spraying Shay before taking an Awful Waffle… but the ref’s still down and there’s nobody to make the cover! Taking advantage, Brookes kicks Taylor low and gets a two-count out of it… so he empties the rest of his water on Shay.
Except Shay fights back with a mouthful of orange juice, which Brookes gets before Cassidy runs in with a Destroyer. Of course, it doesn’t win the match, as Brookes draped a leg onto the rope just in time. Orange tries for a chokeslam, but that doesn’t work, as he gets taken onto the top rope for a Full Moon from Lykos, before a slingshot cutter from Brookes and a Jay Driller gets the win for the “home” team. That was quite the match – some may not have liked the comedy, but you’d need a cold, cold heart to have not found any joy in this! ***¼
Jeff Cobb vs. Tyler Bate
I heard you liked strong lads throwing themselves around? This is your match! Cobb can throw people around for fun… especially when said person is almost 100lbs lighter, and Tyler… well, to say he’s freaky strong is an understatement.
Except we start with arse shaking. Yep. Crowds are weird.
When we do get going, there’s a lot of grappling as Bate tries to get Cobb’s back – and fails – before deciding to go for the wrist, which leads to an eventual stalemate. Tyler keeps shooting for the wrist before a takedown gets turned into nearly a pinning predicament for Bate, who responds by kipping up from a wristlock and dropkicking Cobb to the outside.
Back inside, Cobb ragdolls Bate for high gutwrench suplexes, before Tyler flips out of a German suplex and delivers one of his own! GOOD LORD! Cobb rebounds with a spinebuster as he looks to go a little rocky… before going all Ricochet with a People’s Moonsault! The shooting star press afterwards misses, before his charge into the corner is caught and turned into a disbelieving Exploder from a fresh-as-a-daisy Tyler.
That back and forth continues as Cobb dropkicks Bate on the turnbuckles, then heads up for a deadlifted, one-handed superplex, only to get caught in Tyler’s airplane spin of destruction. Strikes follow, as Bate flips out of a clothesline and responds with the top rope springback-into-a-clothesline – one that nearly went awry as Bate’s springback went a little funky. The two continue to exchange, with shots in the corner leading to Cobb pulling Tyler out and into an Athletic Plex (swinging side suplex) that gets a near-fall. Yep, Jeffrey’s strong! He signals for the end, which must mean a Tour of the Islands, but Tyler superkicks away… only to get a pop up German, as Cobb then threatened a dive to the outside… which an uppercut from Bate stops!
Another superplex attempt follows, but Bate fights back and sends Cobb crashing to the mat, as a Spiral Tap almost gets the win! Seconds later, Cobb’s up for a pair of Tyler Drivers, and that’s enough! Gotta love a big lad and a strong lad laying into each other for your main event! ****
As a standalone show, CCK2 was quite the spectacle to see live. However, as part of a bigger picture… I’m not sure if it fits in. Granted, we got the Callous Hearts’ ongoing prep for their match with #CCK later this month, but apart from that, everything seemed to live on an island. Like with a lot of Fight Club: Pro’s output.
That’s not to say that it’s a bad thing – this show was good, as was their prior visit… but if Fight Club: Pro are looking to make London a regular haunt, then it’d be nice if these shows felt more consequential.